#rethinking the Industrial Architecture: A Sustainable Approach with Human Being and Landscape at its Core by GEZA

Industrial
architecture
and landscape.

This is the focus of GEZA Architettura, a multi-disciplinary architecture studio founded in 1999 by Stefano Gri and Piero Zucchi, whose projects have been internationally awarded for their exquisite design solutions and strategic thinking.
Synthesis of Ideas, Beauty and Functionality: according to GEZA the project implies to design the SPACE (Architecture) within its ENVIRONMENT (light and landscape) through the seasons of TIME. Their architectures strive for new meanings while creating new identities and are designed based on a unique point of view and sensibility in regards to the context, the materiality of the details and human-centered solutions. Always towards a poetic dimension.
GEZA rethinks the workspaces merging differing logics by using the law of contrast between efficiency and environment, productive processes and location intangible elements in the name of new meanings and identities where the landscape and the individual’s well-being are at the core of the project.

The relationship between architecture and nature

The industrial architecture project is a great opportunity to rethink the architecture – nature duo, putting the individual back into focus. GEZA’s projects merge engineering and economics aspects to research on a formal abstraction while combining different logics. It’s the landscape and its features that define the project choices, celebrating the elegance of a timeless architecture and the sustainability of the internal workspaces.

Reading the territory and the internal space

The studio simultaneously deals with the production processes and the relationships between artifice and nature, foreground and background, working environments and outdoor spaces.
Each project is designed to become one with the landscape, reinforcing its presence with the surrounding.

Zoom lens – shape and matter

Architecture must balance different reading scales, from the overview to the tiniest details. GEZA bases its projects on this approach, changing perspective from the outside to the inside, switching zoom lenses from the big scale to the singular element to guarantee the quality of their work. This way the architecture doubles its function to bring new identities to both the territory and the human beings’ everyday life.

Rigorous essentiality of forms

The industrial architecture is physically very impactful in regard to the territory and the landscape – likewise infrastructures – and for this reason must be responsibly designed to merge with the environment in a gentle and timeless manner.
It’s the definition of simple acts that guarantees a measurable relation with the territory: horizontal and vertical, repetition and rhythm, light and shadow, straight and curved line, coloured and neutral marks, black and white.

Monochromy and materiality

Monochromy, pure colours and materials allow to explore different surfaces, depths, thoughts, gradients, tactile sensations and light interactions.
Black and white are harsh, neutral colours, yet they merge harmoniously with the natural elements. They are, in fact, a mean to highlight two things: the landscape, green hues painted and the human being, made of dynamic colours himself that blur into the nature when in action.

Human-centered design and sustainability

GEZA personalizes the concept of sustainability (intended as conceptual, almost poetic), a current theme that goes beyond the environmental best practices. In relation to the latest pandemic situation the single individual has found himself in a new condition, juggling between health (physical and mental), smart working and the company needs. In these circumstances, people well-being has inevitably become the number-one priority even in the industrial architecture projects: the studio designs human-centered workspaces, featuring flexible layouts, green areas (indoor and outdoor), optimal natural lighting conditions, cozy environments.
For GEZA, sustainability is related to the quality of life, especially within the working environments where people spend most of their days, sustaining, indeed, their labour. Sustainability is beauty, as it’s undeniable that a pleasant environment sets the parameters for best performances: design, light, space, nature, meeting areas they all contribute to the overall mental and physical well-being of the employees.

About GEZA Architettura

Established in 1999 by Stefano Gri and Piero Zucchi, GEZA Architettura is a studio driven by curiosity and passion, striving for research based on a synthesis of Ideas, Beauty and Functionality. GEZA believes that a project implies design of the SPACE (Architecture) within its ENVIRONMENT (light and landscape) through the seasons of TIME. Our architectures strive for new meanings, while creating new identities.

Over the years, the studio has specialized in architecture projects, urban planning, interior and product design, developing a signature style based on a unique point of view and sensibility in regard to the context, the materiality of the details, and human-centered solutions, always towards a poetic dimension.

The main focus of the studio is industrial architecture and its relationship with the landscape, in a new way of conceiving the work spaces. A few worthy examples are Furla Headquarters (Furla Progetto Italia, 2021), Pratic (Pratic 1.0, 2011 + Pratic 2.0, 2018), Faber Cylinders (2013), and Bosch/Freud (2018), as well as currently-in-

progress works such as the the award-winning Silk-Faw EV (2021) project, Capua1880 Headquarters (2021), and Pratic 3.0 (2021). In addition to residential and housing projects, GEZA designed the setup of the New Craft Exhibition (2016, Fabbrica del Vapore, Triennale di Milano) and Casa della Musica (2010, Cervignano del Friuli).

Amongst the many international accolades bestowed upon the firm, GEZA was recently selected as a popular-choice winner for the 10th edition of the Architizer A+Awards for Furla Progetto Italia, in the Mixed Use (L>25.000 sq. ft) category (award previously received with Pratic 2.0 in 2019). In 2017, the firm claimed the American Architecture Prize, and obtained the Italian Architect Jury Special Award, organized by the National Council of Architects, in 2015. In 2012, the Pratic project won the Special Award for Private Customers (Gold Medal for Italian Architecture – Triennale di Milano), taking part in the XIII Venice Biennale in the same year. In 2013, the same project lead the studio to the finals of the Mies van der Rohe Award – European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture.